‘Speaking The Truth’

“The {Chinese aboriginal} chairwoman of the Senate committee on ‘aboriginal people’ is asking a Conservative senator to rethink her place on the committee after she said there were positive aspects to Canada’s residential school system {An obvious truth…}.

“Conservative Lynn Beyak made the comments…in the Upper Chamber, saying that the government-funded, church-operated schools…were not all bad.

“Committee chairwoman Lillian Eva Dyck {“Member of the Gordon ‘First Nation’{a ‘nation’ of 3,643 people} in Saskatchewan, and a first generation Chinese Canadian”http://sen.parl.gc.ca/ldyck/html/eng/03biography.html}says Beyak’s comments were seen as being ‘ill-informed’ {? See links at bottom} and insensitive, especially to the ‘survivors’ {‘former students’} of residential schools and their descendants.

“Dyck says her office has been inundated with phone calls and emails asking her to remove Beyak from the committee, a power that she does not have under the rules of the Senate.

“Instead, Dyck says Beyak should consider whether her continued presence on the committee will do more harm than good, especially as the committee studies the {fictional} ‘Nation-to-nation’ relationship between aboriginal peoples and the Crown.

“In a statement today, Dyck says Beyak’s comments may have tarnished the committee’s reputation and that her opinions may negatively impact the future work of the committee.

“Aboriginal people must be able to feel that they can trust the members of the committee and that we respect them, Dyck said.

“{Some} Conservative MPs have already distanced themselves from Beyak, with {some politically-correct} caucus members saying the Stephen Harper appointee’s comments don’t reflect the position of the Tory caucus or the party.”

“Senator Lynn Beyak says she doesn’t need any more education about the horrors of the residential school system because she “suffered” alongside ‘indigenous’ people who were sent to the institutions.

“The Conservative senator from northwestern Ontario reiterated her defence of the schools in an interview with ‘CBC News’ on Monday.

“I made my statements, and I stand by them,” she said. “I think, if you go across Canada, there are shining examples from sea to sea of people who owe their lives to the schools,” she said, while acknowledging that the bad parts of the schools were “horrific.”

“I’ve suffered with them up there. I appreciate their suffering more than they’ll ever know,” she said. “The best way to heal is to move forward together. Not to blame, not to point fingers, not to live in the past.”

“Beyak, who sits as a member of the Senate’s ‘Aboriginal Peoples’ committee, said she has received hundreds of positive remarks after she delivered a speech in which she chastised the {Partial} Truth and {One-way} Reconciliation Commission for not “focusing on the good” of the “well-intentioned” institutions.

Ermineskin Residential School (1940s)

“There were two sides to every story. We have 700 letters, we’ll make it a binder, we’ll make it all available,” she said Monday. “Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of letters.”

“Despite Beyak’s claim she has been inundated with positive comments, other groups, including the {Left-wing} ‘Anglican Church of Canada’, have gone public to denounce her remarks.

“There was nothing good about children going missing and no report being filed. There was nothing good about burying children in unmarked graves far from their ancestral homes. It heaped cruelty upon cruelty for the child taken and the parent left behind,”

wrote the church, which ran some of the schools, in an open letter to Beyak…

“…The Senator said she doesn’t need a history lesson because she has lived in northern Ontario for 40 years.

“I don’t need any more education. I’ve been involved since we double dated when I was 15 with an Aboriginal fellow and his wife,” she said. “I’ve worked with them, they’re my friends, they spoke at my husband’s funeral. We all get along great. We want a better future.”

“Saskatchewan {aboriginal} Liberal Senator Lillian Dyck, the chair of the ‘Aboriginal Peoples’ committee, has said Beyak should consider resigning from the committee given the outrage generated by her defence of residential schools.

Senator Lillian Eva Dyck

“Dyck said she fears witnesses will be reluctant to appear before the committee with Beyak at the table {What a racist cheap shot! This biased ‘Chair’ should resign…}. The Conservative senator said there is no way she will resign.

“Nobody’s given me a valid reason why I should [resign]. I have work to do, for taxpayers and for Native people.”

“Beyak said she is pushing for a national audit of sorts of all money the federal government spends on ‘First Nations’ {‘Siberian settler’ communities}. She said Monday she doesn’t believe the money flows to the “grassroots”, and is misappropriated by chiefs.

“In her March 7 speech, Beyak said teachers and administrators at the residential schools were “well-intentioned” and they “didn’t mean to hurt anybody”.

“Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak says she has received much support after she defended residential schools in the Senate last week, and is ignoring calls to apologize to survivors of the system who have branded her remarks insensitive and inaccurate.

“In her first public remarks since ‘CBC News’ reported her comments more than a week ago, Beyak said she has many ‘indigenous’ friends and those that read her speech “recognize her knowledge, compassion and expertise” on the ‘First Nations’ file.

“She also said they support her calls for an audit of all money

“flowing in and out of reservations, and talks with grassroots ‘indigenous’ people,” she said.

“Which ‘indigenous’ people are your friends?” Independent Senator Patrick Brazeau said in an email sent to all Senate offices in response to Beyak’s statement. “As a former national chief, this is important to me.”

{Why, so you can try and intimidate them into silence, as has been done to so many others???}

“The Senator has stated unequivocally, many times over the years, in noting certain positive aspects of residential schools, as also recorded in the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ report, one can never excuse or minimize the suffering that victims have experienced,” Beyak said in her statement, written in the third person…

“There were thoughtful phone calls and letters of support and respectful, dissenting viewpoints were also shared,”

Beyak’s statement released Thursday said, adding that she has been involved “personally and politically” with ‘First Nations’ people since 1964. (Beyak was born in 1949.)…

“I speak partly for the record, but mostly in memory of the kindly and well-intentioned men and women and their descendants — perhaps some of us here in this chamber — whose remarkable works, good deeds and historical tales in the residential schools go unacknowledged for the most part,” she said during her initial address.

“I was disappointed in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s report in that it didn’t focus on the good…”

“In this era of fake news and exaggeration, Senator Lynn Beyak is especially grateful to those who have taken the time to do their own research and to deeply and respectfully engage,” her statement said.

“She acknowledges the

“honest and ethical journalists who wrote, and the intelligent well-informed citizens who are not intimidated by voices who seek to stifle debate.”

“The poor, benighted Canadian Senate is struggling to restore its credibility, but it is approaching it by self-consciously persecuting its own members…

“The dilemma of the Senate is illustrated by the calls for the resignation of Don Meredith and Lynn Beyak….

“Sen. Beyak’s offence was to point out that the demonized residential schools for native people were in part staffed by “kindly and well-intentioned men and women”. An NDP {aboriginal} MP (Romeo Saganash) has demanded her resignation and the Liberal ‘indigenous’ {‘Siberian settler’} caucus has asked for Sen. Beyak’s removal from the Conservative Senate caucus.

“Of course, Sen. Beyak is correct. Most of the teachers in those remote schools were dedicated people who believed in what they were doing and were trying to prepare their charges for full participation in Canadian life. Some were negligent and some were racists, and there were terrible incidents and appalling misfortunes, including epidemics that wrought a grim toll among the students. But the residential schools program was not an exercise in deliberate discrimination.

“Most of the children were plucked from desperate and hopeless squalorand, despite the disdain of the deputy minister of the time the program was established, the authorities generally meant to educate the native people usefully.

“Sen. Beyak should be commended for not joining in this frenzied self-flagellation induced by native leaders who, in effect, claim that the Europeans had no business coming here, but that the native people are prepared to accept as their due the entire fruit of 400 years of effort in transforming the barbarous and underpopulated territory of Canada into a ‘G7’ country.

“We must reach a generous solution to the legitimate grievances of the native people, but it may have to be legislated over the courts, which have been largely taken over by advocates of declaring the whole country a sacred aboriginal burial ground where Europeans and their descendants have been trespassing interlopers these four centuries.

“Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak mounted a defence of the residential school system for aboriginal children in the Red Chamber…lamenting that the “good deeds” accomplished by “well-intentioned” religious teachers have been overshadowed by negative reports documented by the ‘{Partial} Truth and {One-way} Reconciliation Commission’.

“I speak partly for the record, but mostly in memory of the kindly and well-intentioned men and women and their descendants — perhaps some of us here in this chamber — whose remarkable works, good deeds and historical tales in the residential schools go unacknowledged for the most part,” she said.

“The commission, which conducted an exhaustive six-year study of the system {No. The Commission was biased from the beginning, to the point of not encouraging those with positive stories to even testify. In addition, those who worked, taught and administered the schools were, for the most part, remarkably absent. As well, the stories of abuse were mostly unsubstantiated and were left unchallenged; hence, very few criminal charges resulted, despite the many financially-remunerated claims of abuse…}, found physical, mental and sexual abuse was rampant {in some schools}, and some 6,000 children died {out of 150,000} while in care because of malnourishment or disease {or accident, like fire…}.

“Beyak, an Ontario senator, appointed by former prime minister Stephen Harper in 2013, said she has spoken to ‘indigenous’ people who have told her of the positive experiences they had while at the schools, adding many have kept their Christian faith after it was imparted to them by school administrators.

“Mistakes were made at residential schools — in many instances, horrible mistakes that overshadowed some good things that also happened at those schools,”

she said, rising to speak on Senator Kim Pate’s inquiry on the ‘over-representation’ of ‘indigenous’ women in Canadian prisons, a topic Beyak largely ignored in her lengthy speech.{They are ‘over-represented’ in the prison system because they are ‘over-represented’ in the COMMISSION of crimes…}

“Senator Murray Sinclair, who served as the {biased and bigoted} chief commissioner of the ‘{Partial} Truth and {One-way} Reconciliation Commission’, sat in the chamber during Beyak’s speech, and was the first to respond.

“I am a bit shocked, Senator, that you still hold some views that have been proven to be incorrect over the years, but, nonetheless, I accept that you have the right to hold them,” he said.

“He asked Beyak a question about the issue at hand — ‘indigenous’ women in prison — but before she could respond, her allocated time ran out and a request for an extension was denied by fellow Conservative Senator Don Plett, among others.

“This was not the first time Beyak has sought to paint the residential school system in a different light. At a recent meeting of the Senate’s ‘Aboriginal Peoples’ committee, she said those who ran the schools

“didn’t mean to hurt anybody.”

“The fathers and sons and family members of the nuns and priests, to this day, have to bear the reputation as well, and nobody meant to hurt anybody,” she said. “The little smiles in the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ are real, the clothes are clean and the meals are good. There were many people who came from residential schools with good training and good language skills, and, of course, there were the atrocities as well.

“I was disappointed in the {Partial} Truth and {One-way} Reconciliation Commission’s report in that it didn’t focus on the good. The people I talk to are Christians.”

“She said the commission proposed few new solutions to address the poor socioeconomic conditions faced by many ‘First Nations’ {‘Siberian settler’} people today.

“There are excellent calls to action in the ‘Truth and Reconciliation Report’ {?}, but, frankly, I did not see any new light shed on these issues.”

“Jim Miller, a professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan, who was a witness at the committee that day, said, when pressed by Beyak, that a very small minority {Evidence??} of ‘First Nations’ children experienced good things at the schools.

“My research told me, though, that overwhelmingly people had a very mixed experience.”{Which could be said of all students, not just aboriginal…}

“Miller also noted the commission did document that some students had positive memories of their experiences.{They did not encourage those with positive experiences; nor were witnesses cross-examined on the accuracy of their testimonies. It was an Inquisition, with only token positive stories for the pretense of balance…}

“Indeed, the commission found some ‘indigenous’ students spoke highly of the skills they acquired, the benefits of recreation and sports, and the friendships they made at a school, but on the whole, for most students, academic success was elusive in the crowded classrooms and they often left feeling isolated from their families, culture and language.

Hector-Louis Langevin

“Beyak also said Tuesday it is unfair to brand Hector-Louis Langevin, widely regarded as one of the architects of the system, as a ‘racist’, because many parents chose to send their children to faith-based schools on reserve, where they in turn learned valuable teachings about Jesus and the Gospel {And how to READ and WRITE!}.

“Beyak, who hails from northwestern Ontario, also praised former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau’s 1969 ‘White Paper’ on ‘indigenous issues’, which proposed doing away with the ‘Indian Act’, treaties, and eliminating a distinct legal Indian status.

“The leaders of the day called it ‘forced assimilation,’ but I don’t believe that was Trudeau’s intent. I think he just wanted us to be Canadians together. The concept was to trade your status card for Canadian citizenship … it was brilliant and revolutionary,” she said.”

“NDP {aboriginal} MP Romeo Saganash is calling on Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak to resign after comments she made about residential schools.

“Saganash is the Member of Parliament for ‘Abitibi—Baie-James—Nunavik—Eeyou’, and a residential school ‘survivor’…”{He ‘survived’ learning to read and write, and ended up a Canadian Senator; yet, never a word of gratitude…}

“An attempt by Conservative Senator Lynn Beyak to paint the residential school system as “well-intentioned” is akin to defending actions taken by Adolf Hitler against the Jewish people in the Second World War, NDP MP and residential schools ‘survivor’ {‘former student’} Roméo Saganash said Thursday.

“It equals saying what Hitler did to the Jewish [people] was good, that he wasn’t ill-intentioned in doing what he did. So, that’s why it’s unacceptable,”

Saganash said in an interview with CBC News outside the House of Commons…

“The residential schools were profoundly damaging to ‘First Nations’. Children were forcibly taken from their families and homes for the express purpose of trying to eradicate our languages and our identities. This was an attempt at ‘genocide’,” Bellegarde said…

{Meanwhile, the politically-correct cowards in her own party sold the Senator out…}

“Cathy McLeod, the Tory ‘indigenous’ affairs critic, said Beyak’s remarks are not reflective of the larger Conservative Party, as it was former prime minister Stephen Harper who formally apologized for the role the federal government played in administering the system.

“We were really proud, it was one of the proudest days of our lives, when we did the residential school apology, and so, you know, I think those are comments that I think she needs to reflect upon … and the impact that those words might have had on the ‘survivors’ {‘students’} that suffered from horrific abuse,” she said in an interview.

“Conservative Senator Don Plett, the party’s whip in the Senate, said while Beyak’s views are ‘out of step’ with other members of her caucus,

“all senators are independent and entitled to their own opinions.”

“Saskatchewan {aboriginal} Senator Lillian Dyck, the ‘chair’ of the Senate’s Aboriginal affairs committee, was in the chamber during Beyak’s 20-minute speech and said she exchanged exasperated looks with {aboriginal} Senator Murray Sinclair, the {biased} ‘chair’ of the TRC.

“I was shocked. We were looking at each other like, ‘what’s going on?’ I wasn’t really sure what the main intention of her speech was {Nonsense. You just refuse to listen because of your bias…}.” …

The demonized image of the Residential schools is now part of the not-to-be-questioned orthodoxy of the Aboriginal Narrative. Here’s what happens when you even dare to ask a question on the topic:

“A high-ranking ‘First Nations’ {‘Siberian settler’} leader has joined in the call for an apology from local {B.C.} MLA Linda Larson for her “incredibly ignorant” comments regarding residential schools.

Boundary Similkameen MLA Linda Larson

“While leading a legislative committee meeting on health in Victoria last week, Larson asked an executive from the {segregated} ‘First Nations’ Health Authority’:

“How long do you think before the legacy of those residential schools finally burns itself out of the ‘First Nations’ people?”

“Later, she wondered:

“How many generations is it going to take before the words ‘residential school’ no longer play a part in how people feel?”

“Grand Chief Stewart Phillip said Larson should offer an “unconditional apology” for her comments.

said Phillip, president of the ‘Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs’ and former head of the Penticton Indian Band.

Stewart Phillip

“Just as the world still remembers other human-rights atrocities, like the ‘Holocaust’, to honour victims and learn from the past, he explained, the ‘lasting’ {For how long?} effects of residential schools on ‘First Nations’ people must also not be forgotten.

“She should know and understand that,” said Phillip. “That’s why I find it absolutely astounding that she would make such comments.”

“B.C. New Democratic Party leader John Horgan has also called on Larson to apologize, but the MLA for Boundary-Similkameen apparently stands by what she said.She didn’t return a call for comment Wednesday, but said in a statement:

“What happened with residential schools was an absolute tragedy {?}. There was and continues to be horrible consequences to peoples’ lives because of residential schools. I know too many people in our community who have suffered.

“Every member of that committee, regardless of their party, is interested in one thing – how can we work together to help people. At that committee meeting, we were talking to the health authority about how we can help people. I’m surprised and disappointed that Mr. Horgan would try and use my comments for partisan purposes.”

“Horgan also called on Premier Christy Clark to force Larson to apologize, but that request was brushed off during a stop in Penticton on Tuesday.

“The ‘First Nations’ people who were in the room (at the committee meeting) didn’t express any offence at it at the time, so I think we can follow their lead,” said Clark, adding Larson “was really trying to understand what it is we can all do to try and heal those wounds, which is so important for us as a generation.”

“Phillip said Clark’s refusal to order an apology reflects the Premier’s own “cavalier” attitude towards ‘First Nations’…”

Bentwood Box (TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION)

“The following is an excerpt from the transcript of the July 7 ‘Select Standing Committee on Health’ meeting, at which MLA Linda Larson made her controversial comments on residential schools during an exchange with presenter Richard Jock, chief operating officer of the {segregated} ‘First Nations’ Health Authority’:

JOCK: “I think the legacy of residential schools is one that we really need to carefully address and do so throughout our system. In fact, trauma-informed care is a really important ingredient to improving care….”

LARSON: “Thank you. That gives us a chance to ask some questions. You made a referral to the residential schools. How long do you think before the legacy of those residential schools finally burns itself out of the ‘First Nations’ people?”

JOCK: “Well, I think there are a couple of aspects to that. One is that as long as our people feel uncomfortable with the system, as long as they feel that institutions are not friendly to them, then I think the legacy will not find its way out of the system.”

LARSON: “What institutions now are not friendly? I mean, the residential schools were horrific. There’s no doubt about that. I have many friends, and some have died too young as a result of the connection through their parents. I’m talking generationally. How many generations is it going to take before the words “residential school” no longer play a part in how people feel?”

JOCK: “Well, that one’s a tough question. I guess what I would say is that as long as people are feeling that they are being discriminated against when they present at a hospital or in any kind of a mainstream institution, then we’ll not see the end of that.”